FIDE WCC R2-1: A Grecian tragedy

6/22/2004 – Imagine what this must feel like: in round two of the FIDE knockout world championship Super-GM Nigel Short outplayed his opponent on the white side of a Sicilian, then spent 79 moves nursing an exchange advantage towards victory. Finally, on move 121, fate struck a devastating blow... We have found a possible explanation...

Vladimir Kramnik: ‘Chess is so deep, I simply feel lost’

6/21/2004 – How has chess influenced his life? What does it mean to be world champion? How does he train? And what advice would he give to George W. Bush? Classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who is scheduled to defend his title against challenger Peter Leko at the end of September, spoke to the German news portal “Spiegel Online”.

FIDE WCCh: top seeds win through

6/20/2004 – They expected 128 players, only 124 turned up, giving four players a comfortable bye in the first round. All the top seeds won their games, there were only two minor hiccups (Azmaiparashvili and Bologan lost). FIDE is offering comprehensive coverage, including video interviews. We bring you a report, games and pictures.

The Traxler Counter Attack – play 5.Bxf7!

6/20/2004 – Last week Boris Alterman showed us the Traxler Counter Attack, and how White can get into a lot of trouble by trying to win quickly with 5.Nxf7. Instead Alterman advocates taking with the bishop, which leaves White a pawn up but with some tempo problems. Visit Playchess.com for GM Boris Alterman's lecture and simultaneous exhibition.

Searching for the future chess queen

6/20/2004 – Last month at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium the National All-Girls Chess Championship took place, with 200 participants aged five to eighteen. The tournament starred former world champion Susan Polgar, who is probably doing more for women's chess than all her predecessors put together. Pictorial report...

FIDE WCC R1: Youngest and oldest falter

6/20/2004 – The youngest player of the tournament, GM Magnus Carlsen, is 13 years old. The oldest, Rafael Vaganian of Armenia, is 52. Both were stopped in round one of the FIDE knockout world championship in Tripoli. Two other youngster GMs also dropped out. Meanwhile all of the top favourites coasted through. Here's a report, pictures and games.

Better Homes and Gardens – and chess anyone?

6/20/2004 – "Think of chess as push-ups for developing brains", writes Better Homes and Gardens – one of America's most widely read magazines. Chess can improve reading habits and teach children lessons they can use in everyday life. One of the best ways to get you kid started is by picking up "a copy of the excellent computer training program Learn to Play Chess with Fritz & Chesster.

Chess is King and People are Pawns

6/20/2004 – Back in the days of the Silk Road caravans people might have thought it was a mirage – a huge glass dome, rising from the parched brown steppe. The Chess City of Elista is a "shimmering vision is a monument to the power of ego over nature." Read about it in this extensive New York Times article.

FIDE World Chess Championship starts today

6/19/2004 – 128 players have gathered together in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, to play for the World Championship. The first round starts at 14:30 local (and European Central) time. A special FIDE site is offering comprehensive coverage. We bring you pictures, schedules and the pairings of round one. Also full instructions on how to follow the event.

Victor Victorious!

6/19/2004 – Will someone please tell Victor Korchnoi to start acting his age? We have 12-year-old Grandmasters running around and 73-year-old Korchnoi is still winning strong GM tournaments. Did we say winning? We meant to say dominating! He scored six wins and won the 2nd György Marx Memorial in Hungary by a full point. Report and games.

Hit the board, Jack!

6/18/2004 – The great musician Ray Charles, who died last Thursday, will be laid to rest today at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. We pay homage to this legendary pianist and soul singer by taking a look at a chess game he played two years ago against GM Larry Evans. Rest in peace, Ray.

ChessBase 8 printout

6/18/2004 – If you've ever fired up ChessBase 8 and loaded a game which has a ton of opening variations, you'll know that the regular notation display can sometimes be a little tough to read and navigate. In this week's ChessBase Workshop, Steve Lopez shows you how to clean up that display and make a nice professional-looking paper printout of the result. Workshop...

It's politics as usual

6/17/2004 – The Israeli chess federations is suing FIDE (and apparently Libya), the ACP is complaining about irregularities, FIDE replies to the ACP, world champion Ruslan Ponomariov wants to know why FIDE is silent now, and Georgian WGMs reply to the women's championship finalists. On the eve of the World Championship in Tripoli it is a chess world in turmoil.

World Team wins Petrosian Memorial by a point

6/15/2004 – A heroic comeback by the Petrosian team in the final two rounds fell a point short. Anand-Kasparov was one of several short draws in the final round. Vaganian had the only win of the round, an impressive bind against Adams. Gelfand, once Petrosian's star pupil, battled hard for the full point against Bacrot to no avail. Report and games.

Gata Kamsky plays chess!

6/15/2004 – After a five year absence, American GM Gata Kamsky returned to the chessboard on Tuesday night. He came to play in the 106th New York Masters at the famous Marshall Chess Club. The former world championship candidate showed considerable rust in tying for first and giving up two draws in the four rapid games. Is he back to stay?

Makropoulos: Why were they silent in Prague?

6/14/2004 – Georgios Makropoulos has been a high FIDE dignitary for almost a quarter of a century. Recently the eloquent and humourous Greek sat down for an interview with "Sport-Express" journalist Yuri Vassiliev, talking about the FIDE World Chess Championship in Tripoli and reunification. We bring you excerpts...

Who will be the next FIDE world champion?

6/14/2004 – We cannot be 100% sure, but at least the statistical odds are 13% in favour of Morozevich or Topalov to win. Adams has a 9% chance, Grischuk 7%. And there is a 1 in 100 million possibility that the next FIDE world champion will be Tarik Abulhul of Libya. Read all about it in Jeff Sonas' World Championship Statistics.

The engine analysis pane

6/14/2004 – The engine analysis pane is a really useful informational tool in both ChessBase and the Fritz "family" of playing programs. But how do you read all of this information? In this week's ChessBase Workshop, columnist Steve Lopez explains what all the numbers mean and also offers some "engine tricks" to help you gather even more information from the display. Workshop...

Leko and Lputian strike back for Petrosian

6/14/2004 – Peter Leko defeated Vishy Anand and the Petrosian Team cut the World's lead in half with one round to play. After losing three of four Lputian came back and scored a full point against Vallejo. For the first time the World failed to notch a win. Tomorrow sees Anand-Kasparov. We have the results, games and analysis here now.

Meeting the King's Indian – with Petrosian

6/13/2004 – To commemorate the 75th birthday of the late world champion Tigran Petrosian our Internet trainer Dennis Monokroussos will look at his distinctive way of meeting the King’s Indian Defense. Join him on Monday night, especially if you would like to add a new anti-King’s Indian weapon to your repertoire. Catch it on the Playchess server.

Miniatures in Moscow

6/13/2004 – Team Petrosian finally won another game, thanks to Peter Leko, but the World won two to make the lead 11-7 at the halfway point. Anand and Vallejo scored with black. Three games were over before move 25, only one of them a draw. Gelfand lost his second while Kasparov missed an endgame victory against Bacrot.

The Traxler Counter Attack

6/13/2004 – When you get to know him, Boris Alterman is an amicable, peace-loving fellow – not the uncompromising militarist he appears to be when you see the title of his recent online lectures (Fried Liver Attack, Morphy Attack, Max Lange Attack). Today he shows us another hyper-aggressive opening. Visit GM Alterman's lecture and simultaneous exhibition.

Women in Red goes down to the Computer

6/13/2004 – It is with a touch of melancholy that we report the loss, in game two, by a very bright young lady to a notebook computer. Ex world champion Zhu Chen suffered her second loss to the 64-bit Star of Unisplendour. In game one the Chinese girl had dominated, in game two it was the machine all the way. Here's an illustrated report...

Kiriakov tames the monster

6/13/2004 – In his second game against the Dual Xeon 3.06 GHz Russian GM Petr Kiriakov showed the audience how to get a safe draw: close up the position, block any breakthrough chances and then simply do nothing! Opponent Shredder was reduced to shuffling its pieces around, wondering why nothing was happening in this game...